U.S. Halts Mine Clearing at Afghan Base

Published 6:00 pm, Thursday, January 9, 2003

The U.S. military halted mine-clearing operations Friday at its main base in Afghanistan so troops could review safety procedures following a mine explosion that injured an American soldier.

The military didn't say when it would resume the work at Bagram Air Base, the headquarters for the U.S. forces in the country.

"From time to time it is good to refocus to ensure that you don't get complacent," Col. Roger King said at Bagram, about 30 miles north of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The injured soldier, who name was not released, is with the 769th Engineering Battalion of the Louisiana National Guard.

He stepped on an anti-personnel mine on Thursday while on a clearing mission inside Bagram, which has large areas riddled with the explosives.

The soldier's right foot was amputated and he was sent to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, a U.S. military hospital in Germany. He was in stable condition, King said.

A Polish soldier was slightly injured in the same blast but did not require medical care, King said.

King said the military was investigating why the U.S. soldier walked in a dangerous area.

He was the second U.S. soldier in Afghanistan hurt by a mine in a week. On Saturday, a paratrooper was wounded in eastern Afghanistan when he stepped on a mine while on patrol. His injury was not life-threatening.

In a separate incident nearby _ also within the Bagram base _ an Afghan working on a road Thursday was critically injured when he stepped on a mine. King did not provide further details.

More than 7,000 mines have been removed from the Bagram base since the start of 2002. Four Afghans were killed and 18 injured in September when two mines exploded during mine-clearing operations on the base.

King said some 1.7 square miles of the base have been cleared of mines. An area of nearly equal size remains uncleared.

Bagram was once a Soviet base and, because of its strategic location on a plain north of Kabul, has been fought over by competing armies over the past two decades.

The village outside its perimeter and the surrounding area was a front line of fighting between the Taliban and the opposition northern alliance.

An estimated 200,000 Afghans were killed or wounded by mines during 23 years of war in Afghanistan, and it is still considered the world's most heavily mined nation.

Also Friday, a 107 mm rocket was fired at a U.S. base near Deh Rawood in central Afghanistan. There were no injuries or damage, King said.

Rockets are fired frequently at U.S. forces, but they are difficult to aim and have rarely caused casualties.